Ion implanters are commonly used in the production of semiconductor wafers. An ion source is used to create a beam of charged ions, which is then directed toward the wafer. As the ions strike the wafer, they impart a charge in the area of impact. This charge allows that particular region of the wafer to be properly “doped”. The configuration of doped regions defines their functionality, and through the use of conductive interconnects, these wafers can be transformed into complex circuits.
A block diagram of a representative ion implanter 1 is shown in FIG. 1. Power supply 2 supplies the required energy to the ion source 3 to enable the generation of ions. An ion source 3 generates ions of a desired species. In some embodiments, these species are mono-atoms, which are best suited for high-energy implant applications. In other embodiments, these species are molecules, which are better suited for low-energy implant applications. The ion source 3 has an aperture through which ions can pass. These ions are attracted to and through the aperture by electrodes 4. These ions are formed into a beam 95, which then passes through a mass analyzer 6. The mass analyzer 6, having a resolving aperture, is used to remove unwanted components from the ion beam, resulting in an ion beam having the desired energy and mass characteristics passing through resolving aperture. Ions of the desired species then pass through a deceleration stage 8, which may include one or more electrodes. The output of the deceleration stage is a diverging ion beam.
A corrector magnet 13 is adapted to deflect the divergent ion beam into a set of beamlets having substantially parallel trajectories. Preferably, the corrector magnet 13 comprises a magnet coil and magnetic pole pieces that are spaced apart to form a gap, through which the ion beamlets pass. The coil is energized so as to create a magnetic field within the gap, which deflects the ion beamlets in accordance with the strength and direction of the applied magnetic field. The magnetic field is adjusted by varying the current through the magnet coil. Alternatively, other structures, such as parallelizing lenses, can also be utilized to perform this function.
Following the angle corrector 13, the ribbon beam is targeted toward the workpiece. In some embodiments, a second deceleration stage 11 may be added. The workpiece is attached to a workpiece support 15. The workpiece support 15 provides a variety of degrees of movement for various implant applications.
Referring to FIG. 2, a traditional ion source that may be incorporated into the ion implanter 1 is shown. The ion source shown in FIG. 2 may include a chamber housing 10 that defines an ion source chamber 14. One side of the chamber housing 10 has an extraction aperture 12 through which the ions pass. In some embodiments, this aperture is a hole, while in other applications, such as high current implantation, this aperture is a slot or a set of holes.
A cathode 20 is located on one end of the ion source chamber 14. A filament 30 is positioned in close proximity to the cathode 20, outside of the ion chamber. A repeller 60 is located on the opposite end of the ion source chamber 14.
The filament 30 is energized by filament supply voltage 54. The current passing through the filament 30 heats it sufficiently (i.e. above 2000° C.) so as to produce thermo-electrons. A bias supply voltage 52 is used to bias the cathode 20 at a substantially more positive voltage than the filament 30. The effect of this large difference in voltage is to cause the thermo-electrons emitted from the filament to be accelerated toward the cathode. As these electrons bombard the cathode, the cathode heats significantly, often to temperatures over 2000° C. The cathode, which is referred to as an indirectly heated cathode (IHC), then emits thermo-electrons into the ion source chamber 14.
The arc supply 50 is used to bias the ion chamber housing 10 positively as compared to the cathode. The arc supply typically biases the housing 10 to a voltage about 50-100 Volts more positive than the cathode 20. This difference in voltage causes the electrons emitted from the cathode 20 to be accelerated toward the housing 10.
A magnetic field is preferably created in the direction 62, typically by using magnetic poles 86 located outside the chamber. The effect of the magnetic field is to confine the emitted electrons within magnetic field lines. The emitted electrons, electrostatically confined between cathode and repeller, take the spiral motions along the source magnetic field lines, thus effectively ionize background gases, forming ions (as shown in FIG. 3).
Vapor or gas source 40 is used to provide atoms or molecules into the ion source chamber 14. The molecules can be of a variety of species, including but not limited to inert gases (such as argon or hydrogen), oxygen-containing gases (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide), nitrogen containing gases (such as nitrogen or nitrogen triflouride), and other dopant-containing gases (such as diborane, boron tri-fluoride, or arsenic penta-fluoride). These background gasses are ionized by electron impact, thus forming plasma 80.
At the far end of the chamber 14, opposite the cathode 20, a repeller 60 is preferably biased to the same voltage as the cathode 20. This causes the emitted electrons to be electrostatically confined between cathode 20 and repeller 60. The use of these structures at each end of the ion source chamber 14 maximizes the interaction of the emitted electrons with the background gas, thus generating high-density plasmas.
FIG. 3 shows a different view of the ion source of FIG. 2. The source magnet 86 creates a magnetic field 62 across the ion chamber. The cathode 20 and repeller 60 are maintained at the same potential, so as to effectively confine the electrons, which collide with the background gas thus generate the plasma 80. The electrode set 90 is biased so as to attract the ions to and through the extraction aperture 12. These extracted ions are then formed into an ion beam 95 and are used as described above.
An alternative embodiment of an ion implantation system, plasma immersion, is shown in FIG. 4. The plasma doping system 100 includes a process chamber 102 defining an enclosed volume 103. A platen 134 is positioned in the process chamber 102 to support a workpiece 138. In one instance, the workpiece 138 comprises a semiconductor wafer having a disk shape, such as, in one embodiment, a 300 millimeter (mm) diameter silicon wafer. The workpiece 138 may be clamped to a flat surface of the platen 134 by electrostatic or mechanical forces. In one embodiment, the platen 134 may include conductive pins (not shown) for making connection to the workpiece 138.
A gas source 104 provides a dopant gas to the interior volume 103 of the process chamber 102 through the mass flow controller 106. A gas baffle 170 is positioned in the process chamber 102 to uniformly distribute the gas from the gas source 104. A pressure gauge 108 measures the pressure inside the process chamber 102. A vacuum pump 112 evacuates exhausts from the process chamber 102 through an exhaust port 110 in the process chamber 102. An exhaust valve 114 controls the exhaust conductance through the exhaust port 110.
The plasma doping system 100 may further include a gas pressure controller 116 that is electrically connected to the mass flow controller 106, the pressure gauge 108, and the exhaust valve 114. The gas pressure controller 116 may be configured to maintain a desired pressure in the process chamber 102 by controlling either the exhaust conductance with the exhaust valve 114 or a process gas flow rate with the mass flow controller 106 in a feedback loop that is responsive to the pressure gauge 108.
The process chamber 102 may have a chamber top 118 that includes a first section 120 formed of a dielectric material that extends in a generally horizontal direction. The chamber top 118 also includes a second section 122 formed of a dielectric material that extends a height from the first section 120 in a generally vertical direction. The chamber top 118 further includes a lid 124 formed of an electrically and thermally conductive material that extends across the second section 122 in a horizontal direction.
The plasma doping system may further include a source 101 configured to generate a plasma 140 within the process chamber 102. The source 101 may include a RF source 150, such as a power supply, to supply RF power to either one or both of the planar antenna 126 and the helical antenna 146 to generate the plasma 140. The RF source 150 may be coupled to the antennas 126, 146 by an impedance matching network 152 that matches the output impedance of the RF source 150 to the impedance of the RF antennas 126, 146 in order to maximize the power transferred from the RF source 150 to the RF antennas 126, 146.
The plasma doping system 100 also may include a bias power supply 148 electrically coupled to the platen 134. The bias power supply 148 is configured to provide a pulsed platen signal having pulse ON and OFF time periods to bias the platen 134, and, hence, the workpiece 138, and to accelerate ions from the plasma 140 toward the workpiece 138 during the pulse ON time periods and not during the pulse OFF periods. The bias power supply 148 may be a DC or an RF power supply.
The plasma doping system 100 may further include a shield ring 194 disposed around the platen 134. As is known in the art, the shield ring 194 may be biased to improve the uniformity of implanted ion distribution near the edge of the workpiece 138. One or more Faraday sensors such as an annular Faraday sensor 199 may be positioned in the shield ring 194 to sense ion beam current.
The plasma doping system 100 may further include a controller 156 and a user interface system 158. The controller 156 can be or include a general-purpose computer or network of general-purpose computers that may be programmed to perform desired input/output functions. The controller 156 also can include other electronic circuitry or components, such as application-specific integrated circuits, other hardwired or programmable electronic devices, discrete element circuits, etc. The controller 156 also may include communication devices, data storage devices, and software. For clarity of illustration, the controller 156 is illustrated as providing only an output signal to the power supplies 148, 150, and receiving input signals from the Faraday sensor 199. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the controller 156 may provide output signals to other components of the plasma doping system 100 and receive input signals from the same. The user interface system 158 may include devices such as touch screens, keyboards, user pointing devices, displays, printers, etc. to allow a user to input commands and/or data and/or to monitor the plasma doping system via the controller 156.
In operation, the gas source 104 supplies a primary dopant gas containing a desired dopant for implantation into the workpiece 138. The gas pressure controller 116 regulates the rate at which the primary dopant gas is supplied to the process chamber 102. The source 101 is configured to generate the plasma 140 within the process chamber 102. The source 101 may be controlled by the controller 156. To generate the plasma 140, the RF source 150 resonates RF currents in at least one of the RF antennas 126, 146 to produce an oscillating magnetic field. The oscillating magnetic field induces RF currents into the process chamber 102. The RF currents in the process chamber 102 excite and ionize the primary dopant gas to generate the plasma 140.
The bias power supply 148 provides a pulsed platen signal to bias the platen 134 and, hence, the workpiece 138 to accelerate ions from the plasma 140 toward the workpiece 138 during the pulse ON periods of the pulsed platen signal. The frequency of the pulsed platen signal and/or the duty cycle of the pulses may be selected to provide a desired dose rate. The amplitude of the pulsed platen signal may be selected to provide a desired energy. With all other parameters being equal, a greater energy will result in a greater implanted depth.
Note that in both systems, gas is supplied to the chamber, which is used to create the ions that are then implanted in the wafer. Traditionally, these gasses include either elemental gasses, such as hydrogen, argon, oxygen, nitrogen, or other molecules, including but not limited to carbon dioxide, nitrogen tri-fluoride, diborane, phosphorus tri-fluoride, boron tri-fluoride, or arsenic penta-fluoride.
As described above, these gasses are ionized to produce the desired ions for implantation. For ion source applications, in order to maximize the generation of a specific ion species, several variables must be controlled, including source gas flow, arc current, ion source materials, wall temperature, and others. Similarly, for plasma implantation applications, factors are used to generate a uniform charged species over the wafer region. Factors, such as source antenna design, pressure, power, target bias voltage, wall/target temperature, and others, are modified to produce the desired ion distribution.
One factor that has not been fully exploited is controlling the characteristics of the incoming source gas. As stated above, different types of gasses are used, depending on the application. However, once a gas is selected, no other modifications are made to that source gas. It would be beneficial to control the composition of the ion species and their spatial distribution by varying the characteristics of the source gas.